Broken Promises
by Lillith Nicole
Summary: UP FOR ADOPTION! Bella settled with Jacob after Edward never came back. A few years down the road Jacob imprints on Emily's cousin, and due to a secret that must be kept Bella leaves Forks and moves to Alaska, close to Juneau, with Leah.
1. Chapter 1

I stood next to Jacob on first beach, it was warm and sunny. A rarity here; the sunlight shone on the water, the glare bright enough to hurt my eyes if I stared too long. I wasn't paying attention to the conversation between Jacob and Sam but when I felt Jacob's hand stiffen, and then let go of mine I caught the tail end of it. Emily was pregnant, and due to complications, she was on bed rest.

"This is Emily and Leah's cousin, Melanie. She's here to help Emily for a while." I looked at Jacob, trying to understand what has him so on edge. My breath catches when I see his face. He's looking at Melanie like she's perfect. Wonderment, love, and happiness flit across his face in varying degrees. Then I know. Jacob's imprinted.

Apparently Sam knows, as well, I see nothing but pity in his eyes. I looked back at Jacob's face. He was looking at me. "Bella, I…" I couldn't let him finish. I can imagine the words that would flow out of his mouth. 'I'm sorry', 'I can't help it'. I didn't want to hear any of it.

"No, Jake." He didn't try to follow me as I walked away, digging in my pocket for my keys. Then I remembered that I rode with Jacob. As if on cue I heard Leah call my name and hold up a set of keys. She made is if to through them, then, as if remembering my clumsiness she ran them over. No words were exchanged as I grabbed the keys, but I couldn't help but think something passed between us as I glanced at her eyes. I ducked my head and nearly ran to the beat up, blue ford something. I couldn't help but think that Jacob would know, a bitter laugh bubbled out of my throat.

I drove to Jacob's house, where I left my truck. I wasted no time in leaving Leah's keys in the the glove compartment and leaving in my truck, there was no telling when Jacob would be back and I didn't want to face him right now, if ever. My hand glided over my stomach, thinking about the news I was going to share with Jacob tonight. But I couldn't tell him, not now.

The elders would never let me leave with Jacob's baby, and I couldn't stay and watch Jacob and Melanie together. I had to leave before any one knows. I couldn't even tell my father. He's too close with Harry and Billy. But I didn't know where to go, I couldn't go to Arizona, my mother couldn't keep a secret to save her life. I had to pull over, it was too much. I ended up staying in that spot for two hours, crying and talking to my baby.

I looked at my watch, 5 o' clock. I needed to go home and figure out my life. I made my way home, to the cullen's old home. Shortly after my 18th birthday I received a phone call from a J. Jenks. The Cullen's had 'died' and I was to inherit enough money I couldn't spend it in three lifetimes, and their Forks home, plus a few other properties around the united states.

I drove down the winding driveway carefully, not wanting to crash my truck. At the end my headlights illuminated Leah, sitting on the front steps. I shut off my truck, and stepped out. She was already by my door. "Well, Swan, looks like you've got yourself in quite a pickle." She looked down at my stomach and back at me, raising an eyebrow. I just blushed and looked down.

"I'm guessing that you've realized a few things, huh?" she sighed and looked down. "Where are you going?"

"I don't know, I hadn't thought it out that far yet. But I have some other houses the Cullens gave me. So maybe one of those."

"Does Jacob know about them? Because if he does then they're out of the running, I don't think He'll look for you but do you want to chance him finding you if he does get it in his head to try to find you?" She was right.

"I have a house close to Juneau, He doesn't know about that one. I even forget about it most of the time." She looked over my shoulder and past me, to the setting sun.

"Well, Swan, I'd hop on the next flight to Alaska if I were you, then." She sighed, "And buy me a ticket too. Someone has to teach little wolfy how to, well, do wolf stuff."


	2. Chapter 2

Two weeks later, we had made our excuses to our families and bought the tickets. I told them Leah and I were going to travel the world for a few years, beyond that we didn't know anything else. I just needed to get away and see the world . So far Jacob hadn't tried to contact me, and I was happier that way. In fact, I didn't see any of the wolves. By that point Leah told me that any wolf with a nose would know at this point, so that was good.

We leave tomorrow. I couldn't lie to myself. Now that Jacob was out of the picture Edward popped into my mind more frequently. I wasn't in love with him. I had passed that point in my life. But I couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if he had come back to forks. Would we have gotten back together? I rubbed my eyes. It was late, three thirty in the morning, and we all know that nothing good happens after two am. Like this train of thought. I decided to go to bed.

I stood up and took care of the glass sitting on the end table next to me. I shut off the big lights around the house. As I passed the wall of windows Esme loved so much I thought I saw a something russet colored move into the woods surrounding the house. I shook my head, not letting myself think of it. Before I could turn away I saw Leah's wolf stand at the tree line and give a low growl, I barely heard it through the glass and the distance between us, but it was there. She huffed, I could almost hear the corresponding words, 'that's right, and you stay gone.'

Jacob must have been there. But why? It's not me. He has Melanie now, and I'm familiar enough with imprinting to know that he wouldn't seek me out just because. My eyes widened, he knew. I looked to Leah as I started hyperventilating. She looked at me, concern blanketing her features. She ran off, and appeared in the house a minute later.

"Does he know, Leah? I know that he isn't worried about my well being." I wrapped my arms around myself as I tried to slow my breathing.

"He doesn't know why, but he knows something is up. A nomad came through La push today, and in the middle of the fight I let my guard slip a little." She looked at her watch, and looked back out of the window. "What time do we leave again?"

"We have to leave here about five thirty in the morning."

"How about we leave early. My worry is that he'll give me an order that my wolf can't ignore. I don't want to put you in that situation." I nodded my head at her. Over the last couple weeks she's been spending less and less time with the pack and more time with me. I've told her she needs to see them while she can, but all she does is snort at me and walk away. Maybe this is just as much of a chance to get away for her as it is for me.

"I guess we can, I mean, It's really early though. Can't you just not shift until then or something? Ignore him if he comes to the door?" I didn't want to leave just yet. I was tired and wanted nothing more than a warm bed to stretch out in. I let my irritation show on my face.

Leah sighed and shook her head. Suddenly I was embarrassed, she was just trying to help me and I was acting like a baby just because I was a little tired. I looked around. I was totally ready. I sent the vast majority of our things ahead. All I had was a small carry-on bag with a couple of outfits and my toiletries. "If you're ready, Leah, I am. I'm sorry. I know you're just trying to help. I don't mean to be a baby." I looked down at my hands, unconsciously playing with the wolf charm Jacob had given me for my birthday. When I looked at Leah she was also starring at my hands.

"Get your stuff, kid. Better safe than sorry, and all that." Without looking up, she continued, "It does get easier, you know. It felt like I was going to die at first, but eventually it just stopped hurting. There was no single moment where it suddenly hit me that I moved on. But I did. It doesn't hurt anymore. I'm still not happy with the situation. But Emily is my cousin, and at one point I loved Sam with everything that I had. They were both too important to me for me to not let go. The imprint, while it can hurt a lot of people, is actually a beautiful thing. One day I want that with someone." It was almost as if she was talking to herself. But then she shook her, as if to physically shake the thoughts from her head, and walked towards the bedroom where she had been staying in the last couple weeks.

Pursing my lips, I wished I could sleep, but knowing Leah was right spurred me on to grab my small bag and keys. While Leah put our few bags in the car I did one last walk through the house. I stepped into Edward's room, I couldn't call it anything else, because that's what it would always be. Suddenly my heart started beating a mile a minute. Something told me that I wouldn't be back here for a very long time. And somehow, I knew that the cullens would come back into my life very soon. Sighing, I followed Leah's voice. She stood by her car, waiting impatiently for me to join her.

As I climbed in Leah looked around her car and hummed in disapproval. "We'll stop along the way to clean this out. I don't want Seth picking up the car in this condition." I wasn't sure about the details but apparently Leah was giving her car to Seth, as I heard her say 'someone might as well drive the piece of junk while it's still drivable'. I just nodded, fighting the urge to sleep. Ten minutes in Leah told me to sleep. She didn't have to tell me twice.

The entire trip to Alaska was a blur of sleep interrupted by brief periods of semi alertness. I got on a plane in Seattle and woke up god knows how long later being shaken by Leah. She had both of our bags on one shoulder and used her other arm to steady me. Our next flight was in four hours, from Vancouver to Juneau, but it was delayed another two hours. We used the time to shower and eat in a hotel room provided by the airport. I think that was the longest I was awake during the entire trip.

As we got on the plane for the second time in twenty four hours I inwardly groaned. Another four hours on a plane. Goody. I turned to Leah. "I know we were going to try to make it to the house tonight, but I would greatly appreciate a hot meal and a hotel." My tone was almost pleading, from Juneau we had to drive to our new home, and the trip was nearly an hour and a half. I didn't want to do that tonight.

"I'm already ahead of you, I booked us a room in a small hotel. And its in walking distance from a little bar where I figured we could get a burger or something. You're paying, by the way." She smirked at me and I couldn't be mad. She was uprooting her entire life for me, the least I could do was to pay for our hotel. I tured away from her and looked out the window. Nothing but dark skies and darker clouds.

I must have fallen asleep, because I again woke up to Leah shaking me. We left the plane the same way we left the first. Leah with our bags and helping to hold me steady. For whatever reason the time difference between Forks and Juneau was only an hour so that meant jet lag shouldn't be an issue. But with all the sleeping I did while flying I was awake, very awake. I looked to Leah as she did something on her phone. "The airport has an exclusive taxi service for its guests, so I'm going to go get that set up. It might take a few minutes, why don't you sit."

Wordlessly I did as she said, now that I'm out of Forks I allowed myself to think of my baby. Ivy, or maybe a Nathaniel. It was too early to tell, but I wasn't too eager to know, I just wanted them to be healthy, healthy and happy.


End file.
